Live Updates: Massive wildfire causes evacuations, closures, outages in Ocean County, NJ

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  • A massive wildfire in Ocean County, New Jersey, has burned thousands of acres, forced thousands of evacuations and closed several roads. 
  • The fire began shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, at the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area in Barnegat Township, Ocean County. 
  • The fire spread to Lacey Township and Ocean Township, sending massive plumes of white smoke into the air. 
  • As of Tuesday, April 22, at 11 p.m., the “Jones Wildfire” burned 8,500 acres, threatened 1,320 structures, forced 3,000 evacuations in Ocean and Lacey townships, caused thousands of power outages, and shut down multiple roadways, including a stretch of the Garden State Parkway, leading to a traffic nightmare.
  • Shelters for the evacuees were created at Southern Regional High School on 105 Cedar Bridge Road in Manahawkin, New Jersey, and Manchester Township High School at 101 Hawks Way in Manchester, New Jersey. 
  • Multiple resources were deployed to fight the fire, including local, county and state fire services. No injuries have been reported. As of late Tuesday night, the fire was 10% contained. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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